Category Archives: 2011 Releases

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In Spring 2005 the first annual Joe Shuster Awards for Canadian Comic Book Creators was held at the Paradise Comics Toronto Comicon and a lot of great books and talent have been honoured over the decade since then.

As 2013 draws to a close, please join us as we present an overview of 9 years worth of Joe Shuster Award Winners.

Note that some winners in 2005-2008 were selected by public voting. In 2009 all categories became jury selected.

ACHIEVEMENT 2005, 2008
2005 – Dave Sim and Gerhard for the completion of Cerebus. Begun in 1977, this 300-issue series is a milestone in comic book publishing and is the longest running creator-owned comic book series
2008 – David Watkins for using comics as a teaching tool.

Montreal, QC – In a ceremony presided by JASON ROCKMAN and CATHERINE SMITH-DESBIENS at the MONTREAL COMIC-CON, the 8th Annual Joe Shuster Awards for Canadian Comic Book Creators and Retailers were presented to an enthusiastic crowd of nominees, friends and fans of the medium. Continue reading →

We’re now a mere 11 days away from the presentation of the 8th annual Joe Shuster Awards and we’ll be posting some updates as we near the event.

JURY DECISIONS

The Art Jury (Artist, Cover Artist and Webcomics) have finished their selections, as have the ones selecting the Dragon Prize and the Gene Day Award for Self-Publishing. That leaves the Retailer Jury and the Story Jury (Cartoonist and Writer), and we hope to have those wrapped up later today or early tomorrow.

HARRY KREMER RETAILER AWARD FINALISTS

The 10 stores have been narrowed down to a final five – watch for a release here shortly.

POSTER

Our promotional image is ready, just waiting for some final approvals.

HALL OF FAME

Our Hall of Fame committee has opted to pass on inducting a new member in 2012.

FINAL AWARDS LIST FOR 2012 (8 awards to be given out in Montreal on September 15):

Things may have slowed down considerably here on the site lately, as running a store as well as the awards, parts of the country’s largest comic-con and a day job have really taken a toll on my time. I had never expected to own a comic shop, but The Comic Book Lounge + Gallery has been growing steadily since we opened it back in February. Huge props go to manager Joe Kilmartin (formerly of the JSA Executive and former manager of Dragon Lady Comics), for handling the day to day aspects of running the Lounge.

If anyone has any interest in posting news items and articles here on the website, please contact me at kevin@joeshusterawards.com and we’ll get you hooked up.

It has been a very busy summer for everyone, with plenty of great news coming out of the San Diego con. A new series from Ed Brisson, Michael Walsh and Jordie Belaire called Comeback for Image. Also at Image, J. Bone will be doing a series called The Saviours with James Robinson, Darwyn Cooke will be doing at least two more Parker novels with The Hustle set for release in late 2013. Dale Keown will be joining Jeph Loeb for something called A Plus X.

Of course, the big news were the Eisner Awards, which have been summarized elsewhere on this site. Congratulations to the class of 2012! Darwyn and Ramon face off again in September in the Cartoonist category here for the Joe Shuster Awards.

The juries for 2012 have been selected and are beginning their review process. Thanks to the publishers who assisted us providing copies of nominated books for the jury to review. In this regard The Comic Book Lounge has become an official sponsor of the Joe Shuster Awards, providing some of the books not obtainable from the publisher directly.

It has been a big summer for books as well. Richard Stark’s Parker: The Score by Darwyn Cooke was released last week to great acclaim, the colourized Scott Pilgrim Volume 1 by Bryan Lee O’Malley and Nathan Fairbairn is set to arrive next week, as is Jeff Lemire’s The Underwater Welder.

SAN DIEGO – At-Con International (Comic-Con) last evening, the winners of the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards 2012 were announced. The nominees were chosen by a blue-ribbon panel of judges and the winners were selected by a balloting process open to industry professionals.

Canadians were well represented in many categories but the big winners in last evening’s ceremony were Jim Henson’s Tale of Sand (Archaia) by Toronto artist Ramón K. Pérez (winning 3 of the 5 awards the book was nominated for: Best Graphic Album, Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team, and Best Publication Design), and Richard Stark’s Parker: The Martini Edition by Halifax’s Darwyn Cooke (winning 2 of the 3 categories in which it was nominated: Best Short Story “The Seventh”, and Best Graphic Album Reprint Material).

This has been a big year for both Perez and Cooke, and both are nominated for these respective works in the 2012 Joe Shuster Awards, which will be announced in Montreal on September 15th. Cooke’s latest Parker adaptation “The Score” was released in stores on Wednesday.

Guelph’s The Dragon shared the honours for the Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award with Akira Comics in Madrid, Spain. This was The Dragon’s third turn as an Retailer Award Finalist and we are particularly happy for owner Jennifer Haines and staff and family as they are also sponsors of the Joe Shuster Awards. This was a well-deserved honour.

Ballots were sent out in mid-April to comics creators, editors, publishers, and retailers. A downloadable pdf of the ballot was available online, and a special website was set up for online voting.

The Eisner Awards are part of Comic-Con International, a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to creating awareness of and appreciation for comics and related popular art forms, primarily through the presentation of conventions and events that celebrate the historic and ongoing contributions of comics to art and culture. Jackie Estrada has been administrator of the Awards since 1990. She can be reached at jackie@comic-con.org.

Comprising 11 prizes known as the “Fauves d’Angoulême”, the Official Awards of the International Comics Festival were given out in Angoulême on Sunday 29 January 2012, the last day of the 39th edition of the festival. They reward comic books published in French between December 2010 and November 2011, irrespective of the country of publication.

58 books have been shortlisted this year. The Grand Jury will award seven “Fauve d’Angoulême” prizes to books on this list:
• Fauve d’Or – Best Comic Book Award. The “Fauve d’Or” goes to the best comic book of the year, whatever its genre, style or geographical origin.
• Fauve d’Angoulême – Special Jury Prize. With this prize, the jury draws attention to a book they have particularly enjoyed for its narrative or graphic quality, or its original stance.
• Fauve d’Angoulême – Best Series Award. This award goes to a work made up of several volumes – at least three, whatever the final number of volumes in the series.
• Fauve d’Angoulême – Best Newcomer Award. This award distinguishes the work of an up-and-coming cartoonist.
• Fauve d’Angoulême – Views on the World Award. This prize rewards a book dealing with current world issues.
• Fauve d’Angoulême – Audacity Award. This prize rewards an artwork that takes an innovative approach, whether formal or narrative, to comics.
• Fauve d’Angoulême – Intergenerational Award. This award is a nod to the family spirit of classic comics, and rewards a cross-generational work that could appeal to readers of all ages.

A jury made up of booksellers from the Fnac bookshop chain will also nominate its favourite comic book from within the Official Selection. This book will be awarded the Fauve d’Angoulême – Fnac Comics Award.

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The Gene Day Award for Self-Publishing honours Canadian comic book creators who self-published their work during the previous calendar year and is open to all Canadian citizens who self-publish and self-distribute their comics. The winner receives a Joe Shuster Award and a bursary of $500, to help fund your next comic project.

This award is open to comics self-published from January 1, 2011 to December 31st, 2011. The comics can be in any language. There is no limit on the number of titles submitted per person, if you created 3 comics in 2011 you may submit all 3 titles.

You must attest that that the books were self-published within the appropriate timeline by signing “self-published in 2011” and your signature. Be sure to write an email address your books, or some other way to reach you, so we can communicate with you in the event that your book is selected as a finalist.

Deadline to submit is March 1, 2012.

We ask that you submit 2 copies of your book, to allow copies to be distributed to the jury.

This year the Gene Day Award is being sponsored by The Dragon, a retail comic book store based out of Guelph, ON and a strong supporter of self-published comics. The Dragon sponsors and operates the Kazoo Comics & Zine Expo, a small press fair in Guelph, and has been a finalist for the Will Eisner Spirit of Retailing Award for best comic shop in the world each of the past 2 years.

Summation:

award is open to non-professional comic creators who self-publish and do not use distribution such as Diamond

$500 prize plus a Joe Shuster Award winner statue

submit 2 copies of each title you wish to submit

work must be self-published from any time in 2011, January 1 to December 31st

each copy must have “self-published in 2011” and your signature in the book (unless this is printed in the book)

First run at the list is available for review via the link posted above. UPDATED JAN.24th! For the first time we have grouped all releases together – French and English. Comics for Kids releases are also included (French and English).

Only the categories of Artist (incl. inkers), Cartoonist (writer/artist), Cover Artist and Writer are included. Colourists and editors are not included as there are no awards for those categories in 2012. Also excluded: Pin-ups, Reprints of previously published work or collections of webcomic strips, & translated works if the original language version was from a previous calendar year. Eligible Webcomics and Retailers are listed elsewhere. About us page re: eligibility and other points about the Joe Shuster Awards

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Sorry about the lack of updates this week, so much has been going on with… well, everything this week.

Between the announcement of the guest list for the March Toronto ComiCon, plans and coordination for Fan Expo Vancouver in April, the Dragon Lady closing and all of the related press coverage that has been getting, rumours of what is going to happen next with the Silver Snail, coordinating some shipments I have coming in and going out, and so on (not to mention my research work during the day) I haven’t had time to do much posting. Robert has been working on more regional retailer round-ups.

Next week:

– we’ll be posting the Eligible Creators List for 2011 that we’ll be looking for feedback on. 2012 Nominating committee will be finalized and we can get on with selecting the list for 2012. Andrew completed the updates to the Webcomics list last weekend so if you haven’t had time to check it out, please take a look and discover some great comics.

– on Wednesday night in Toronto it’s the Jim Henson’s A Tale of Sand Industry Night release party at the Toronto Cartoonists Workshop with Ramon Perez. It looks like we have copies of the book available for the event so come on down and check it out of you can.

– Finally, I’ve been working on something top secret that I hope to be able to share the news about with you as early as next Monday.

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Two more days before Christmas, have you finished all of your Christmas shopping yet? I haven’t! I started wrapping some things this morning, so hopefully I’ll finish up all of the many little pre-Christmas errands tonight after work or early tomorrow morning before I start driving all around the GTA to various family events.

* I’d like to thank everyone that participated in the End of the Year Survey on Canadian Comics, we may still have some more, but there won’t be much more posted to the site until Tuesday next week. I think a lot of great points have been made, and it was great to catch up with some folks before we launch into 2012.

* We’ve got one more week of new books shipping next Wednesday before we close off the entries for eligible comics and graphic novels for the year and officially commence the nomination process for the awards.

* There are two days left in Darwyn Cooke’s Day 8 and 8.5 of his 12 Days of Christmas Auctions, he’s got some great Superman artwork and signed books available in each of the two auctions and the money will help us run the awards for 2012. He’s got many other great items available in the other auctions, and they are all for a great cause – the Hero Initiative.

* Next week the Boxing Day/Week sales commence, so why not check out your local comic book shop and see what they have on sale? Boxing Day and Week sales are big money makers for local comic book shops, and any sales they make may help make their holiday season a successful one. It’s been a tough year for independent retailers of all kinds, so let’s end the year on a positive note!

The Adventures of Tintin and his Taun Taun by Benjamin Rivers. My win from the "Toronto Draws Tintin" event. I'll definitely be checking out the Tintin movie over the break, anyone else?

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Earlier in the month, Strange Adventures in Halifax held a special release party for Parker: The Martini Edition, even creating a unique Parker commemorative martini glass. Photos now online!

Darwyn has started his annual 12 Days of Christmas auctions to benefit the Hero Initiative. Some amazing pieces and packages were sold last year, so expect the same this year, and it’s all for a very worthy cause! DAY ONE, DAY TWO.

PS I received Darwyn’s response to the wrap survey today, so I’ll be formatting it and posting it here on Thursday.

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Heads up that tomorrow, December 14th, is the day that comic shops receive their copies of Jim Henson’s A Tale of Sand. It’s going to be a big day for graphic novels as tomorrow is also the day the latest Walking Dead and Fables volumes ship, so make sure to look for this one as well.

A Tale of Sand is a screenplay originally written in 1967 by Jim Henson (famous for creating the Muppets) and Jerry Juhl. A wiki check indicates the idea for A Tale of Sand was conceived in the 1950’s, and developed by Henson and Juhl in the 1960s and was further developed after the initial 1967 draft well into the 1970s, but was never produced as a film.

A Tale of Sand is the story of a young man named Mac, and Mac is involved in a race across an expansive desert with only a rucksack full of odds-and-ends. Mac is being pursued by a relentless, mysterious man known only as “Patch”.

In 2010, Archaia Studios Press and the Jim Henson Company announced plans to release a hardcover graphic novel adaptation of the screenplay by Toronto-based illustrator Ramon K. Perez. The graphic novel was originally scheduled to be released on September 24, 2011 (Jim Henson’s 75th birthday), but the date was later changed to January 3, 2012. Archaia is doing a “soft release” of the book this week to the direct market, and a result, Ramon Perez will be eligible for consideration for next year’s awards. As this is an adaptation I would think he’ll be up for consideration in the Cartoonist category, as it’s a similar situation to Darwyn Cooke’s adaptations of Richard Stark’s (Donald Westlake) Parker novels.

Advance reports are that the book is stunning, and based on what we’ve seen in previews, we are excited to get a chance to read the finished book. Look for it at your favourite comic shop tomorrow… and if they don’t have it, get them to order you a copy asap!

Expozine is one of the largest small press fairs in North America, bringing together over 270 exhibitors showcasing all kinds of publications– from books to zines to graphic novels – in both English and French. The event attracts thousands of visitors as well as exhibitors from across Canada, the United States and even Europe! It’s a unique showcase of the best publications that today’s small publishers and self-publishing authors and artists have to offer. Literally thousands of different publications can be found at Expozine, it’s THE “salon du livre” for readers interested in today’s underground and alternative publications!

Expozine is organized by Arcmtl (Archive Montreal), a non-profit organization that both promotes and preserves independently produced culture in Montreal. Expozine is made possible in part through the financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Conseil des Arts de Montréal.

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About Us

Comic books, like Jazz, are a North American invention that has been embraced all over the globe --- and from the Platinum Age to the present, Canadian artists, writers and cartoonists have been shaping it along the way.

The Joe Shuster Awards celebrate Canadians who create comics at home or abroad. They are named after Joe Shuster, the Canadian artist that co-created a character that has had tremendous impact on the industry and the world.

The Canadian Comic Book Creator Awards Association seeks to identify and provide FREE resources on the who, what, when and where of Canadians working in comics, selling comics, and celebrating comics.

What if a Canadian Creator Moves Away? Joe Shuster, Hal Foster – are they really Canadian?

Is Superman Canadian? Our position.

Taking us beyond the New Frontier: Darwyn Cooke (1962-2016)

Positive Spirit and Determination: Debra Jane Shelly (1974-2014)

Jerry Robinson (1922-2011)

Thank you, Jerry. We will miss you.

2014 Winners were announced on September, 2014 in Toronto (click image to see results)

2014 Winners Announced in Toronto

2013 Winners were announced on August 24, 2013 in Toronto (click image to see results)

2012 WINNERS ANNOUNCED ON 9/15/2012 IN MONTREAL (CLICK ON THE IMAGE FOR DETAILS)

2011 WINNERS ANNOUNCED ON 6/18/2011 IN CALGARY (CLICK ON THE IMAGE FOR DETAILS)